Walker Percy's The Moviegoer at Fifty: New Takes on an Iconic American Novel

More than fifty years after its publication Walker Percys National Book Award Winner The Moviegoer still confronts comforts and enlightens generations of readers. This collection of twelve new essays edited and introduced by Jennifer Levasseur and Mary A. McCay emphasize the evolving significance of this seminal New Orleans novel. Authors consider the text with diverse perspectives drawing from philosophy theology disability theory contemporary music and literature social media and film studies. Jay Tolson opens the volume with reflections on rereading the novel on a Kindle decades after writing his important biography of Percy. H. Collin Messer Montserrat Gins Jessica Hooten Wilson and Brian Jobe follow with illuminating essays analyzing Percys influences from St. Augustine and Cervantes to Heidegger and Dostoevsky. Jonathan Potter and Read Mercer Schuchardt Mary A. McCay Matthew Luter and Dorian Speed delve into the novels significance to cinema including an exhaustive guide to its film references a meditation on Binx Bolling as a director of his existence and the semiotics of celebrity. Brent Walter Cline and Robert Bolton Michael Kobre and L. Lamar Nisly present a roadmap for Bollings inward journey exploring a variety of elements from the role of the broken body to the spiritual connection to Bruce Springsteen lyrics. Walker Percys The Moviegoer at Fifty is the first critical work devoted solely to the authors debut novel. Coinciding with the centenary of Percys birth this collection invites both new and veteran readers to enjoy The Moviegoer with fresh perspectives that underscore its lasting relevance.